Fort Wayne staffing company Renhill Services, Inc., has settled a lawsuit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for retaliation and age and race discrimination. The company will pay $580,000 and up to $5,000 in settlement administrative expenses, according to the EEOC.
The EEOC charged that Renhill violated federal law by failing to refer African-American applicants and applicants age 40 and older for work assignments. According to the commission, the company retaliated against employees who objected to the referral practices.
In addition to the monetary settlement, the three-year consent decree requires Renhill to comply with prohibitions against discrimination and retain employment records. It also has to post and distribute a nondiscrimination policy, train employees, and make reports to the EEOC.
Tobacco Superstores, Inc., to pay $425,000 for race discrimination
The EEOC has announced that Tobacco Superstores, Inc. (TSS) will pay $425,000 and provide significant remedial relief to settle a race discrimination lawsuit on behalf of qualified black workers who were denied promotion to management.
The EEOC filed a lawsuit on behalf of Theresa Sharkey and a class of African Americans in Arkansas and Mississippi. In addition to rejecting the class of workers for promotion because of their race, the suit also alleged that Sharkey was forced to resign because of the company’s failure to promote her. Race discrimination violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
In addition to the monetary relief for the class of aggrieved individuals, the three-year consent decree settling the case also prohibits TSS from denying promotions to African American employees because of their race and from engaging in retaliation. The decree also requires TSS to:
- provide training to all managers and supervisors on preventing race discrimination and retaliation;
- create job descriptions for manager and assistant manager positions that outline the qualifications for each position;
- develop a written promotion policy that will include the procedures by which employees will be notified of promotional opportunities;
- report assistant manager and manager vacancies, the name and race of all applicants for the position, and the name of the successful candidate;
- report the names of all African Americans who are either hired or promoted to manager or assistant manager positions; and
- report any complaints of race discrimination and describe its investigation in response to the complaint.